Railway sign



April 10, 1928. 1,665,374

' w. H. B. LAVARACK E11 AL RAILWAY SIGN Filed April 6. 1926 VENTORS LAW ious fumesand ig ilyiLzWaShedf; 'Such signs although expensive obviate- Patented Apr. 10, 1928.

i Application file l'i Ap'ril 52;, 1926. seat nd i: to? signs 'ticularly to? railvv ayisigns and :more especial of-Way. I It .is wen.

lyir railvvaysigns positioned along: the right:-

nQWn'ftOT- taasi ned ta.

railway artithat various signs areused'ialong.

the .right-of w'ay of a:railway; Such signs inay be distance indication si ns. such 5, as mile posts, signal vpole numbers; 1 so-icalled V Whistlesigns and: slgn'sgati crossing at grade ofhigh-ways; It? is; use wen knoyvn? that toa senve; theirl purpo's e these signs. must all be; of such anature that theicharacters there;- on may be readily. read iat some considerable distanc'e by a person While movingf at per haps a somevvliatnhighaspedsi'I'In.order to 'Obtitlfiaitlegible sign of; theJJt'ype mentioned .it-has' heretoforei been necessary: toem'ake such signs having letters or figuresithe'reoifi of such 1 nature that the surface thereof was not ;.rea"dilyr' attacked"; byrithe noxious gases :and fumes gnerally:.prelvalnt. in; and aboutxara-ilwayltracks :andiialso aotsuch ha.- a ture that thessoot;.adirt orf dust generally prevalent. :about railwiay tracks wouldrznot readily adhereitoiahdiso obscure thelletters Signs" 0151 the; type i vhich'i areisuitable :fo; '.rai'lWay ;vvork,e-;have :ii'l" consequncexoi the difiicu lties encountered; been made toil confparative expensive; materialsgsufch as -enamy el ed-"metalr. By; using:iena'meled. metal very good results have been obtained, because such signs are somewhat resistant to noxthe necessity of a skilled sign painter repainting the sign as is necessary with paint-e ed signs when the sign becomes obscured. Such signs, however, offer the dilficulty that a very large number of practically identical signs must be required in order to make it a fairly reasonable pla-n as regards-costs to use them because special tools and dies and other apparatus are necessary in order to produce such signs, so that by their use the advantages of the ordinary painted sign are lost, the advantage of the ordinary painted sign being that almost any form or style of lettering may be produced as an individual sign fairly cheaply.

It is the object of applicants invention to produce'a sign which may be readily made in small or large number profitably B.- imam, btf ms. B,

been-illustratediai .1: :Eigc iscrosssa i'on'allevievv :onthje plane indicated by the Flinei'III II'I of Fig. 2; viewed sinzl the tdir ectioir'roftlie ariovvsat zthei' ends'Iofthe' linmu i Eig;atzis.1 akfa'ce: vieva '0 -Well known; high' -jvayi .tcross'ifrgi .sig-na'l (ionstructed in suer a? Way. as zto iembody tthel-in- --;ventioniinmm; the draviings 1g H I :naftes .al-sheetaoita material; of adequate thi-clfcness. .7 to givexthe r required strength, prefer ably of metal and preferably sheet iron.

ass, and" bequite read-- and which fur hermo lieevvl by: which the: originja may be quiclrlyre'store soiled:v by: means vvhich do not i nvo'lve usei of skilled-labor,suchg-tor 'i'nsta'n sign painters 'ab Otheruobjects'andeadvant 1 pp'e as .thedescription ofth' particular pliys'ical embodiment selected ftoi -i'llustrate tl'ie inv'eb} tion progresses sthe g rfovelfl features off the -1nvent1onW1ll be" particularly:pointedoiit in .thelappend'ed claimii to; In describingnth'e linvehtion in Jdet tratetheinvention; reference isg h'ad to the accompanying d u articularpreferred physlcal embodiment of ith'e' invention; and Where} -the%pa'rti ular physical enrb'od'irr'i'enti selected I "it rawin Wher'fe'i-n' hasv ihi'like characters" ofirefereneedesignate,-

corresponding parts throughout.tlreseveral 5 4 .E'Figure? 1-1 isalperspective viwl of a .-1, numeral l-,= desig- By ordinary Well known'common tools de? sired letters or figures or both, may. bev formed in the sheet 1. These. letters and figuresfare cut so as to extend entirely through the sheet. In Fig. 1, We have shown the letter A designated by 2 and the number 1, designated by 3 and the number I a 7 designated by 4. Of course, any desired combination of lettersywords, figures or numbers may be formed. It the sheet or plate 1 is positioned on the pole or other structure along theright-o'f-way in such a Way as to have a sky background the letters and figures Would be readily readable, but a sky background is not alwaysto'be secured and even if it can besecured at times it is not in suitable conditionv for assisting the legibility of the figures or letters. Conseilh' assa ed 1 i quently, applicants placeon the backor rear s de of the plate 1 another plate 5 as best shown in Fig; 3.5 size that it completely covers the cutout e'rable'to formone or more circular orifices t in the plate 5 suchas 6,.as ShW-I1;in F g-P2 and connect these circular orifices with slots as7'and to attach to the platel projections as '8,1best shown in Fig. 3, which have enlarged heads 9 'ofsuch .size that they will 7 justpass through :lthe icircularuorifice ,6 on

the [plate 5.-.:By this construction plate 5 maybe'plac'ed inposition on the rearof plate 1 so that circular orifice 6 coincides with the. enlarged heads. 9, whereupon the plate; 5; may be placed closely adjacent the plateyl and then b being moved endwise slightly thereduce portion of the ,projec 4 tions will enterthe slots 7 of the-plate,

' againstt erear sidefof the, plate 5.

it will be then whereupon the plate may be 'let go, because 7 a 'eld in lacefirmly andsecurely fb jthe enlarge heads: ,9 bearing In order to render the'letters and more. conspicuous, the plate, 5 is given a b g of S me white substance, preferably rdinary i-white 1 a paint. 7 1' F a a After the sign has been-in place for some i time'if it-becomes somewhat obscured by be readily removed and for thispurpose ap-v plicant forms handholds, such as 11 at'ejach end thereof by lturningzu the ends of the 40 V .either appliediby dipping or: in anyof the well known manners, as by a "brush. In

2 applying the new coating unskilled labor hisplate is of such, 7

it therefrom. 7 -may be used, as no partieularskill is required. Such a plate 5 when recoated is virtual lya s good as new and may be readily replaced in the manner hereinbefore described all by unskilled labor.

The plate'l may be attached to any desired wayside structure and to. facilitate this, applicant has provided: bridging members as 12, eachhaving an orifice therethrough as 13, through'which a rivet or bolt may be passed to attach the plate to a supporting V V armas 14.; g

fIn Fig. 4, the ordinary and'well known highway; crossing signis.illustrated composed of crossed members'15 and. 16 in each of which arethe necessary and: desired :cut out letters forming the necessarywords.v On

the back of each arm-,are plates 5 and cor respondingto the plates 51 of Fig."1, which are-removable in the same manner as. the plate illustrated in Fig; 1. a I

j Although the construction of one physical embodimentof the invention has been particularly' described andthe principle there-V v of explained, .it is desired to have it understood that theform selected is merely illustrative, but does not-exhaust the possible physical embodiments oftheidea of means underlying the invention...

States is: I I

' In a sign, in combination; aplate-formed with cut-away portions extending through the plate inthe form of letter or figure charreason of noxious gases affecting the aint, :01" soot. being deposited thereon, plate 5 1 may acters,'fastening means extending rearwardlyfrom the plate; headed slugs projecting from the rear. face of-the plate, and: aback} ing plate having a light-reflecting surface and providedwith slots' having enlarged tioning it upon the front EVERLY A. L NDY. WILLIAM V B; LAVARACK.

What is claimed as new and desired to be a I i secured by Letters Patent of. the United soj 

